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Appropriations done for 2012

WASHINGTON — Congress reached a last-minute deal to avoid a partial government shutdown last week, approving $915 billion in spending to cover the remaining nine months of the fiscal year.

The House voted 296-121 in favor of a multi-agency spending bill for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. More than half of the spending will cover military, homeland security and veterans programs.

The bill combined nine overdue appropriations bills needed to fund the government through the fiscal year. Combined with earlier legislation, lawmakers reduced discretionary spending by $7 billion from the 2011 fiscal year.

The Pentagon’s core budget will increase 1 percent to $518 million, not including $115 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The Environmental Protection Agency will get $8.4 billion, a 6 percent cut from the president’s request.

Lawmakers also cut legislative branch spending by 5 percent — their salaries are not changed by the reduction.

The federal agencies included in the bill had been operating under a short-term “continuing resolution” that expired Friday night.

Opposition to the bill came from conservatives, who said it spent too much, and liberals, who said it spent too little.

“Aside from spending levels being simply too high, this is a 1,200-page bill that we’re voting on only a few hours after it was finalized. We’ll be discovering for months to come what’s actually in it,” said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.

Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., voted against it.

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Senate nixes

balanced budget amendments

Two measures seeking a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution fell well short of the two-thirds majority needed to clear the Senate.

Proponents — mostly Republican — said a Constitutional amendment is needed to restrain Congress, which has shown no lasting resolve TO curb deficit spending.

“Absent the constitutional restraint of a balanced budget amendment, Congress and the president do not make the tough choices. Instead, they take the path of least resistance,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

Opponents — mostly Democrats — argued the amendment would make it difficult for Congress to deal with economic downturns or emergency disasters. And, they noted that balanced budgets had been achieved as recently as the Clinton administration.

“History has shown that Congress can balance the budget without tampering with our Constitution. We did it in the 1990s, and we can do it again,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The Senate scheduled the votes to fulfill a commitment made last summer over raising the government’s debt limit. The House held its vote last month, falling 23 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed.

The Republican proposal, which Hatch offered, would have required a balanced budget, limited government spending to no more than 18 percent of gross domestic product and required a two-thirds majority of Congress to raise taxes.

The Senate voted 47-53 in favor of the bill. Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., voted for it.

Sen. Mark Udall, D-Col., offered an alternative that included no spending cap, did not require a supermajority to raise taxes, and would have shielded Social Security funds from being used to balance the budget.

The Senate voted 21-79 in favor of his alternative. Alexander and Corker voted against it.

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Defense

authorization approved

The House and Senate voted in favor of a $662 billion defense authorization bill that sets military policy and spending targets for the fiscal year that began three months ago.

Passage of the bill had stalled for months over the handling of suspected terrorists. The White House had threatened a veto over the issue. Negotiators were able to agree to changes that saw the veto threat dropped.

Under the legislation, foreign terrorists who attack the United States would be held in military custody. They would face a military trial unless the president signed a waiver to do otherwise.

The bill includes a 1.6 percent across-the-board pay raise for all members of uniformed services. It also elevates the chief of the National Guard to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Bringing the National Guard up to the same level as the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines reflects its changed role — from principally handling state disaster relief — to more combat missions, proponents said.